“We turn to next to the dowager empress Theodora Palaiologina (d.1303), who survived her husband Michael VIII for more than twenty years. During the last decade of her life, sometime between 1294 and 1301, she reactivated at least two monastic establishments in Constantinople, Lips and Hagioi Anargyroi… The larger of the two institutions, Lips, had originally been founded in the early tenth century. We do not know whether it housed monks or nuns during its first incarnation, nor do we know anything of its history until its restoration by Theodora. It seems safe to assume that the complex had been abandoned when she restored it to serve as an imperial nunnery for fifty religious; she added a second church of St. John the Baptist to the previously existing church, and constructed a twelve-bed xenon for laywomen. The term xenon is usually rendered as “hospital”, but perhaps “nursing home” would be more apt, since an annual provision of food was made for the ailing women who clearly were being cared for on a long-term basis. Thus the nunnery had in part a charitable purpose. On the other hand, Theodora expected that some of her daughters and grand-daughters would take the veil there, and made provision for them to enjoy special privileges, such as personal attendants and meals in their private apartments. Theodora herself at some point took monastery vows as the nun Eugenia, but we do not know if she took this step on her deathbed, or actually resided at the convent for a while.”

Alice-Mary Talbot, Building activity in Constantinople under Andronikos II: The role of women patrons in the construction and restoration of monasteries, in Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life, Edited by Nevra Necipoğlu, Brill, pp. 336-337.